What about Apple? Or iPod? Or iMac? Or iPhone? What about PPC-6700? What about Microsoft? Or Windows? Or Office? What about Sprint? What about Verizon? What about Playstation? What about XBox? What about Slingbox? What about Blackberry? What about Directv? What about Quicken? What about Dell?

Is there something missing from the 3 categories (fear, hope, love)? Interestingly, many of our posts are about complaints concerning the gadgets or services we use. Might there be another category called “Necessity” for why we buy and use certain gadgets (or continue to use certain gadgets and services while we face constant problems)?

That’s a question that’s been asked over on Silicon Alley Insider. What led to the question is a study which shows that Mac people buy more music from iTunes than PC people. The simple explanation (and probably correct explanation) is since iTunes comes pre-loaded on Macs, it’s just easier to start buying music on preinstalled iTunes using a Mac. However, the post ends with the fundamental question asked: Are Mac owners different than the PC owners? Well, are they?

PTIer’s. As you know, I’m now solidly a Mac guy. For years, I debated with myself (and TI) the virtues of Mac versus Windows. I can say with confidence that my Macbook Pro is the best computer hardware, software and operating system purchase ever for me. For many of you who use Windows specific software, you probably want to know about running Windows apps on the newer Mac machines with the Intel processor. For me this was an important capability of my Mac as well. I’m not one of these Mac guys who say “why buy a Mac only to run Windows on it.” There are some apps that are better in Windows, or don’t exist for Mac. For me it’s Quicken.

Walt Mossberg has a good video about how to run Windows on your Mac on his site. Check it out here.

I’m sitting here on my Macbook Pro writing this post using Apple’s Safari browser while Windows is booted at the same time in another window running Quicken. I’m using a new piece of software called Fusion. It’s similar to Parallels, but according to Walt Mossberg, it doesn’t put as much strain on your Mac. Life is great. I’m getting all of the simple benefits of using a Mac for 95% of my computing life, while I can still use Windows for a handful applications that work better for me in the Windows environment.